Safety shield for automobile windshields



Oct. 29, 1929. E. E. HALL 1,733,371

SAFETY SHIELD FOR AUTOMOBILE WINDSHIELDS Filed July 1'7, 1928 j'vg. 5.

IN VENTOR.

ff/Vffff 44 BY Z\ A TTORNEYS.

Patented Oct. 29, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT FFMIE ERNEST E. HALL, OF PLEASANTON, CALIFORNIA SAFETY SHIELD FOR AUTOMOBILE WINDSHIELDS Application filed July 17, 1928. Serial No. 283,462.

The invention forming the subject matter tion of the safety device, showing the same of this application relates to a safety device in the position as attached to an automobile, for preventing injury to the occupants of an a diagrammatic view of the automobile being automobile by flying glass in the event of an shown in dotted lines;

automobile accident. Figure 2 is a plan view of the device as at- 55 In case of an automobile accident, most fretached to an automobile; quently the windshield of the automobile Figur 3 is an enlarged detail of the probrealis and the broken glass flying therefrom tecting shield, and the means for supporting causes more or less serious injury to the ocand releasing the same on the top of the auto oupants. 1 ile; 0

The primary object of the present invention i rure i is a detailed view of the protectis the provision of a protective shield which ing shield holding and releasing lever; and automatically descendsbetween the windshield igure 5 is a fragmentary view of the line and the driver of the vehicle in the event of showing the loop thereof engaged by the acan automobile accident. A further objectof mating lever. 65 the invention is the provision of a safety proin carrying out my invention, 1 make use tecting shield which is normally supported of a protecting shield, designated by the nuin an out-of-way position below the top of an moral 6, which is pivotally secures as at 7 automobile, the actuating means of the shield to the frame of an automobile, the latter bebeing extended beyond the bumper and are ing designated in its entirety by the numeral 70 actuated by the impact of the bumper with 8. The protective shield may be pivotally another object. The impact releases said opsecured to any frame member of the automoerating means so as to allow the automatic bile inside of the windshield, although in the swinging of the protecting shield between the case of closeu cars, it is preferably piyotally windshield and the driver, thereby preventsecured upon the frame of the windshield as 75 ing injury to the occupants of the vehicle. shown in Figures 1 and 3. F or operating the A still further object of the invention is protective shield, I employ a flexible line, the provision ofaprotecting shield and means such as a cord or cable, denoted by the nufor maintaining the shield in an out-of-way meral 9. an end of which secured to the unsovposition, said means extending in front of per face of the protective shield 6 as at 11. so the automobile bumper and being adapted to From the securing point 11, the cord passes be released by the impact of the bumper with thru a guiding pulley 12 which latter is seanother object; resilient means being procured in the top of the car, and the cord is vided to instantaneously turn the protecting guided thereby in parallelism with the top shield as to assume a position between the of the car to a second pulley 13 which is rowindshield and the occupants of the vehicle tatable in a horizontal plane. From the pul for protecting the occupants from injury. ley 13, the cord is stretched to another pulley VI ith the above mentioned objects and other 14, at the side of the automobile body, the objects in view, the invention consists in the latter pulley being rotatable in a vertical novel construction and combination of parts plane so as to allow the stretching of the hereinafter described, illustrated in the accord 9 downwardly to a point below the body companying drawing, and set forth in the of the car 8 without obstructing the view of claims hereto appended, it being understood the driver. At this low point, a pulley 15 that various changes in the form, proportion, is rotatably supported below the body and 45 size, and minor details of construction within is rotatable in a vertical plane so as to allow 9 the scope of the claims, may be resorted to the change of direction of the cord from the without departing from the spirit, or without side of the car to the center of the car below sacrificing any of the advantages of the inthe body thereof. After the cord 9 is di vention. rected into the horizontal direction towart 50 In the drawingFigure 1 is a side elevathe center of the car 8, it is held in position 1% by means of a lever 16. At the free end of the cord 9 is formed a loop 17 which is adapted to engage the end of the lever 16. The lever 16 is pivotally supported as at 18 upon a bracket 19, the latter depending from the body of the car 8.

The arm of the lever below the pivotal point 18 has pivotally related thereto rod 19, as shown in Figure 4, the end of which is bifurcated so as to form two branches 20, extending and diverging from the rod 19. The rod 19 is slidably supported in brackets 21, which latter depend from the bottom of the car 8. The branches 20 are also guided in similar brackets 21, but the ends of the branches slidably extend thru a bumper 22 of the car 8. The branches 20 may be mace of resilient material in order to flex when forced rearwardly of the car to avoid binding in brackets 21. The openings in the brackets 21 through which the branches 20 pa s may be made of such a size as to allow for suiiicient play of the branches in their rearward movement to avoid binding with the brackets.

A coil spring 23 is disposed between the top of the car and the end of the protective shield 6, secured to the top so to bear against the top of the car and a5," inst said shield, tending to force the shield away from the top. Now, when the cord 9 is pulled so as to bring the shield 6 into position against the action of the spring 23, then the loop end 17 of the cord reaches the center of the car and is slipped upon the end of the lever 16 by which it is maintained in inoperative position against the action of the spring 23.

My device operates as follows: in the event of accident, the bumper collides with the bumper of another car or with any other object. The branches 20 are pressed by said object and are moved thereby, advancing the rod 19 against the action of the spring 26, thus turning the lever 16 around the pivot 18, whereby the end of the lever 16 is withdrawn from the loop 17. The cord, thus being released, the shield 6, by its own weight, swings around its pivot 7 into the position indicated in dash-and-dotted lines in Figure 1. The swinging movement is greatly accelerated by the action of the tension sgring 23 forcing the protective shield 6 away from the top of the car.

It is apparent that upon the impact of the bumper of the car, the cord 9 is immediately released, thereby allowing the instantaneous swinging of the protective shield 6 between the windshield and the occupants of t lie vehicle, thereby preventing injury to said occupants from the flying glass of the broken windshield.

The protective shield 6 is cut away at one edge thereof, as at 27, so as to allow the same to clear the steering wheel in its downward and upward swinging movements. An apeture 28 is provided above the cutaway portion 27 in the shield 6 for allowing the driver to see therethru, even after the collision or accident has occurred.

In order to return the protective shield to its inoperative position, it is merely necessary to grasp the loop 17 and pull the cord 9, so that the same will swing the shield 6 upwardly and then pull the same in place against the action of the spring 23, by which time the loop 17 is in aligning position with the end of the lever 16. Now, by engaging the loop 17 with the end of the lever 16, the shield 6 is again maintained in inoperative position until a further impact forces the branches 20 and the rod 19 against the action of the spring 26 into cord-releasing position, as heretofore described.

It will be recognized that the vehicle body may be adapted for accommodating a safety shield of the roller type, thereby obviating the necessity of the pivotal connection and swinging movement of the safety shield. In this event, the safety shield may be rolled in the usual manner into the vehicle body. and. after being released, it will be lowered by its own weight or by means of counterweights. The maintaining of the safety shield in an inoperative position and the tripping of the same by the action of the impact of a vehicle collision will be achieved substantially in the same manner as heretofore set forth.

I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, a safety shield supported above a windshield and adapted to be turned so as to cover the wii'idshield; flexible means for pulling the safety shield into uncovering position; a lever pivoted on the vehicle; means on the free end of the flexible means for engaging said lever so as to be held thereby, thus preventing the release of the safety shield; an operating element extending to the front of the car for turning said lever when said element is moved by the force of a collision, said lever being so moved as to release the flexible means and allow the movement of the safety shield in a windshield covering position.

2. In a device of the character described, a safety shield pivotally supported adjacent to a windshield of a vehicle; resilient means for turning said safety shield in a windshield covering position; fl Xible means for turning the safety shield in uncovering position against the action of said resilient means; a pivoted men'lber on the vehicle; the free end of the flexible means being so formed as to be engageable by said member when the safety shield is in the uncovering position; means extending to the front of the vehicle and actuated by the force of collision of the vehicle for withdrawing said member from the free end of the flexible means, thus allowing the action of said resilient means to turn the safety shield in a windshield-covering position.

3. In a device of the character described, a safety shield pivotally supported above a windshield of a vehicle; resilient means for turning the safety shield so as to cover the inside face of the windshield; a flexible line having an end thereof secured to an end of the safety shield and being adapted to exert a pull thereon for moving the safety shield into an inoperative position; a lever pivoted on the vehicle; the free end of the line being adapted to be engaged by the lever when the safety shield is pulled into its inoperative position; and means extending to the front of the vehicle and being actuated by the force of collision of the car for turning said lever so as to withdraw the same from the said free end of the flexible line, thereby allowing the turning of the safety shield over the inside face of the windshield.

4-. In a device of the character described, a safety shield pivotally supported above a windshield of a vehicle; resilient means for turning the safety shield so as to cover the inside face of the windshield; a flexible line having an end thereof secured to an end of the safety shield and being adapted to exert pull thereon for moving the safety shield into an inoperative position; a lever pivoted on the vehicle; the free end of the line being adapted to be engaged by the lever when the safety shield is pulled into its in operative position; means extending to the front of the vehicle and being actuated by the force of collision of the car for turning said lever so as to withdraw the same from the said free end of the flexible line, thereby allowing the turning of the safety shield over the inside face of the windshield; and resilient means for normally maintaining said lever in line engaging position.

5. A protective shield for an automobile windshield pivotally related to the frame of an automobile above and adjacent to the windshield thereof, a lever pivotally related to the automobile and below the windshield, an arm pivotally related at one of its ends to one end of the lever and extending beyond the front of the automobile at the other of its ends, and a cord attached to the protective shield at one of its ends for securing the protective shield in raised position, the other end of the cord being looped over the other of the ends of the lever.

6. A protective shield for automobile Windshields being pivotally related to the frame of an automobile above and adjacent the top of the windshield thereof, means for securing the protective shield in substantial parallelism with the top of the automobile, spring means interposed between the protective shield and the top of the automobile, a lever pivotally secured below the bottom of the automobile upon a horizontal axis, a lever actuating rod secured at one of its ends to the lever, said rod forming two branches at the other of its ends which extend beyond the front of the automobile and means for securing the protective shield in alignment with the top of the automobile in automatically releasible relation to the lever.

7. A protective shield for automobile Windshields comprising a member pivotally related to the top of an automobile and adj acent the windshield thereof in such manner as to cover the windshield when moved about its pivot by gravity, means for securing said member in raised position, a lever pivotally related to the automobile and below the bottom thereof and having a rearwardly extending arm for engaging the means for securing the member in raised position, a bar pivotally related to the lever and extending beyond the front of the automobile.

8. A protective shield for automobile Windshields comprising a protective member pivotally related to the automobile at the top thereof and adjacent the windshield, a lever pivotally related to the automobile and below the bottom thereof, guide sheaves secured to the automobile body, a cord secured to the protective member on the side opposite the pivot thereof and passing over the sheaves and looped over one end of the lever, a bar pivotally related to the other end of the lever and extending beyond the front of the automobile and brackets for securing the bar to the bottom of the automobile.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ERNEST E. HALL. 

